• Universal Feature of Human Societies
• Door Ceremony and Social Meanings (Gendered Spaces)
• Biological versus Sociological Reality

(picture thanks to Michael Kearl)

Gender Identity:

• Self-Concept=> male/female
• Gender Roles: proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females. Especially: Occupational.
• Distinctiveness:
  1. Identity=one's sense of self
  2. Role=socialization, norms of masculinity and femininity.
• The Beauty Myth

Gender in USA

Shirley Weitz:

• Differential Treatment
• Differential Identification
  1. Socialization
  2. Role Models
  3. Mass Media

Male Roles:

• Measuring Up
• "New Man"

Cross Cultural:

• Mead--Arapesh, Tchambuli and Mundugumor:
  1. Arapesh: both feminine
  2. Mundugumor: both masculine
  3. Tchambuli: reversed

Explaining Gender Stratification

Functionalism:

Parsons and Bales--

• Instrumentality
• Expressivity
• Smooth and Efficient
• Fairness? Problems for those who do not fit, masking of power relations.
• Change==> Potential for DISORDER

Conflict:

• Anthropological data and early male dominance.
• Current Ideology--"Boys are Better."
• Control of resources: value of work performed
• Friedel and economic roles: Social status and control of vital resources
• Economic, yet also social subjugation:
  1. Rape
  2. Domestic violence
  3. Sexual harassment
• Change: drastic revision in social structure- Values, Norms, Statuses, Roles and Institutions
• Conflict assumption=> desirability and efficiency of existing system?
• Abortion in the USA

Interactionism:

• Conflict at the individual level--Male Female conversational analysis (males interrupt, change topic, ignore female interests and downplay female contributions: even when female staus is significant)
• Interactional styles reflect and maintain broader patterns of inequality
• When respondents are informed of behavior, patterns of dominance and submission become more acute.

Theories of Age Stratification

Sexism and Institutional Discrimination

• Major Institutions controlled by Males
• Roles traditionally limited: Military, Business, Education, Medicine, Religion
• Criminal Justice: Defining Rape

Global Reality:

• Inequality even in egalitarian western societies
• PLUS; exploitation of developing nations=exploited labor of women
• Also: Even more devalued--Female children in India, China.

Women, Work and the USA

• Steady increase this century
  • 1992--58% work outside the home (43% 1970).
  • Most dramatic rise for married women--1992: 59% (5% 1890).
• Restrictions: Sex-typing, Glass Ceilings, Pink-collar Ghetto, Mommy Tracking.
  • 1995: 48% of labor force, BUT: 9% Engineers, 20% doctors, 21% lawyers Vs >90% secretaries and nurses.
  • 90-95% top positions in business, Media=Males
  • "Double Jeopardy"
• Advancement is taking place, yet often status and pay still low: Women Doctors- dominate in lower paid and lower prestige specialties
• See update on gender, race, ethnicity and annual income for 2004.

Social Consequences

• Child Care
• Fast Food
• Self-Esteem
• Marital Power
• Role Sharing (Dads and child care: longest time father devoted to infant=10.5 minutes, average verbal interaction per day=38 seconds.
• HouseworK: 2:1, "Second Shift," Male's perceptions-women's work=leisure activity for men.

• First Wave: 1848-- Suffrage 19th Amendment (1920)
• Second Wave: 1960's--Now: education, self-help, women's networks, legal changes.

Abortion, Choice, and Motherhood: Kristen Luker.

• Characteristics of Women in Pro versus Anti Abortion Organizations
• Social Change and the status of women
• Privacy and Individualism
• Social Roles and Motherhood